The Forest at the Edge of the World (15 page)

Scowling, Teeria and Sareen picked up the large covered basket Mahrree left them and walked it up the steps of the platform. Captain Shin folded his arms and watched. Mahrree smiled smugly as the girls set down the basket on a table already waiting for it. They backed away and then bounded down the stairs to their seats.

“Thank you, girls. I know how that difficult that was for you.”

Mahrree opened the basket cover and recoiled slightly, but forced a smile as she faced the audience.

“We never know what the world may grow. I, for one, am
suggesting
,” she emphasized to the captain who was straining to see into the basket, “that all kinds of matter could become something more. Something greater
than it originally started as.” 

She reached into the basket and pulled out a large platter with something on it. What that was, exactly, no one could tell.

Captain Shin grimaced as the stench of it reached him.

On the kiln-fired pottery was a mass the size of a loaf of bread. Mostly white, it also had striations of gray, green, and bluish-black. Its texture was bumpy and slimy, and a bit oozy. As Mahrree set the platter on the table, the mass jiggled ominously until a puff of som
ething rose up from it.

The audience, almost in unison, said “
Ewww!”

Mahrree grinned. “This, as you see it right now, is not what it was yesterday, or the day before, or even the day before that, as my students will attest. They’ve observed its changes with me. This is . . . well, we don’t have a name for it yet.”

Captain Shin dared to take a few steps closer to inspect, still keeping his arms folded. “What
is
it?”

“Last week it was my midday meal,” Mahrree confessed. “I fo
rgot about it at the school, and returned this week to discover that this . . .
blob
had grown. It seems the drawer I kept it in, along with some other items I had stored there for science experiments, produced this over the Holy Day.”

The audience began to chuckle and shift uncomfortably at the thought of the unrecognizable midday meal.

Captain Shin looked at Mahrree. “So this, essentially, is your cooking? And you’re
still
unmarried?”

Mahrree turned bright red as the audience burst into laughter.

“Don’t worry, Captain. I wasn’t ever thinking of inviting you over to share a meal.”

The audience
oohed in sympathy as Captain Shin backed up.

“I’ll sleep better tonight with that knowledge. Thank you.”

The audience howled again as Mahrree rolled up her sleeves.

“Now,” she said loudly to draw their attention back to her, “as I said earlier, this is not what it was yesterday. It’s changing and d
eveloping. Perhaps, if left to stew and ferment over many generations, it may just develop into something even more intelligent than . . . the captain here.”

She gave him a sidelong glance and saw him take an insulted breath.

The audience chuckled.

“It would take several more generations, though,” Mahrree co
ntinued, “before it became clever enough to become a teacher.”

The audience broke out into applause and cheering.

Captain Shin remained immovable, keeping his arms folded.

Mahrree folded her arms similarly and looked at him.

His face was stern and set, but his dark eyes were bright and warm. She couldn’t bear to look into them for long. The captain waited until the audience started to quiet down. Then he took a few steps towards her midday-meal-turned-science-experiment and jiggled the table slightly.

“Moves all on its own, doesn’t it?” Mahrree pointed out. “Def
inition of something alive: begins, grows, moves, and dies. Just watch it for a moment and you’ll see it doing something like breathing.”

She was impressed that she could re
main so poised. The blob had made her so nauseated that she’d been close to retching ever since she discovered it at school. Yet she knew it would be the perfect example for her class to test the Administrator of Science’s recently released definition of “life.” And when Rector Densal prepared her for the night’s debate a few days ago by telling her the topic, she knew she had to cultivate the blob as lovingly as the illegal mead brewers watched over their hidden stills.

Captain Shin nodded, and she was sure he knew exactly what she was doing. “So you’re suggesting that this is a form of life? You just recited the new definition of life in reference to it.”

“I thought you might approve of my using that definition. It came from
your
Administrators after all.”

There it was again, welling up in her chest: that inexplicable disdain for the Administrators. She had to be careful. She glanced
around the darkening amphitheater, searching the area lit by torches for anyone wearing an official red jacket.

The captain opened his mouth as if to challenge that they were
his
Administrators, but she continued on, hoping to lighten the moment.

“Interestingly, the definition of life fits even for this world we live in, doesn’t it, Captain? We weren’t around for its beginning, of which there certainly was one, nor will we be for its end—at least, I hope I won’t be around to see the Last Day. Sounds a little frighte
ning to me. But the world itself grows and moves, especially during a land tremor. Therefore, the world must be alive.

“But,” she continued, putting a thoughtful finger to her lips, “it seems tragic that trees and plants aren’t ‘alive’ since they don’t ‘move’ unless the wind blows them. Perhaps the Administrators will amend their definition to grant life to things that can’t move?” she said in a sugared tone. “Let our orchards, vineyards, and crops live? I may be only a simple teacher in Edge, but even my students rea
lized that the university-trained Administrator of Science seemed not to recognize that ‘moving’ isn’t necessarily an indicator of life.”

Why did she keep saying such things about the Administrators?! She bit her lip in worry as the audience chortled.

But the captain didn’t look offended as he sighed loudly. “You’re drifting off topic again. What do the trees have to do with your . . . blob here?”

“Glad you asked!” she answered brightly. “This, according to the Administrators’ definition, is most definitely alive.” She gestured to the disgusting mass. “So now I have one more theory to present about our origins. I will be so bold as to
suggest
that we may have even derived from something similar to this, thousands of years ago. Look at the colors—they change daily. Yesterday there was a lovely pink streak right along there, but now it’s darkened to purply black. What if all of us derived from something like this lump of neglected midday meal? Under the right conditions, in the right temperatures, with the right elements, who’s to say something like this didn’t advance—
progress
—into something like us?”

Captain Shin stared hard at her with his deep dark eyes. They were nearly black, but still somehow warm. Mahrree tried not to look into them, but since he was only a couple feet away, he was i
mpossible to ignore.

“I assure you, Miss Peto, I for one did not progress from som
ething like
that!
”

“Can you prove it?” she dared.

The audience chuckled in expectation.

“Can
you
prove I progressed from that?” the captain challenged.

The villagers laughed.

“Prove to me that you
didn’t!
” she snapped back. “In a few days, there might be a strong family resemblance.”

Another “
ooohing” sound arose from the crowd.

Captain Shin had been waiting for that moment—Mahrree could see it in his small smile. She had no proof that her blob was actually “progressing” and not just some aggressive molds multiplying under ideal circumstances. She was just presenting a debate.

So was he.

Even though she’d seen the captain in the congregation at Re
ctor Densal’s Holy Day services, after that second debate when he dismissed The Writings as a guide from another time, she still had many doubts about what he believed. Now she’d get to see just what he knew.

“Miss Peto,” the captain began, “and with all due respect to Rector Densal who selected this topic,” he nodded to him and his wife sitting on the front row, “the question of our origins shouldn’t even
be
a debate. None of us can prove any theory to be true. We each choose what to believe. So Miss Peto, if you truly want to believe your cooking will become something intelligent, which is its only hope since it’s clearly inedible,” he paused. “Probably always was, too,” he added as the crowd snickered, “I won’t argue your belief.”

“You’re quitting?” Mahrree exclaimed. “Not even going to
try
to offer a counter argument?”

“Oh, no—I’ll debate this matter. I’m just stating this is
not
actually debatable.”

Mahrree smirked. “You’re just afraid of my blob and what it may represent, aren’t you? Always wanted a brother?” She jiggled the table.

She didn’t anticipate the sudden rise of emotion in his face as he seemed to choke back a laugh. His eyes were so warm and bright Mahrree could feel their heat in her body.

“Slide your ‘blob’ over, Miss Peto. I’ve got my own little demonstration for the table.” He gave her an unexpected wink that only she could see, then turned and trotted down the front steps over
to Rector Densal.

Mahrree turned away from the audience to slide her platter over to the side of the table, an
d so that no one would see the effect the captain’s wink had on her. She must have gone purple. She quickly composed herself and turned to see the captain coming to the top of the platform with a large, heavy crate in his arms which he easily carried.

Yes, girls, Mahrree thought. He’s as strong as an ox.

As a
bull.

He set the box down with a thud on the table, and the blob qui
vered in fear. The captain shuddered at it.

“Can’t you cover that up or something?” he asked in a low voice and winked at her again.

Mahrree couldn’t have moved even if she wanted to.

Positioning himself behind the crate, Captain Shin turned to face the audience.

“Miss Peto, and each of you, can believe whatever you wish about where we came from. Cling to whatever theory or even ridiculous suggestion that brings you comfort as you struggle in this difficult existence. There’s no law to force you to believe—”

“Yet,” Mahrree interrupted coldly, just as she had at the second debate when he pointed out she was still free to speak her mind.

The captain gave her a studied look, then turned back to the crowd.

“Despite what I may have said at the second debate about The Writings, I do see them as a valuable work. And I
choose
to believe that the Creator brought our first five hundred families here 319 years ago. That gives me great comfort. And, I will
suggest
,” he emphasized in a nod to Mahrree, “it is the most reasonable belief.”

Mahrree craned her neck to see what was in the crate as he pulled off the top.

Dirt, and several different kinds of it.

She knew exactly what he was about to do, and tried desperately to think of a way to counter it. Someone had helped the captain with explanations about The Writings.

Captain Shin addressed the crowd again. “None of us knows exactly how we came to this world. Our first ancestors began to ask the same question we ask today. After the first year when babies began to be born, our first parents asked the Creator, ‘From where did we get
our
bodies?’ That’s been one of
the
questions ever since, hasn’t it?” He smiled. “The other being, ‘And what happens after we die?’ But that’s a topic for another debate.”

He paused and glanced back at the quivering mass.

“And, regarding where Miss Peto suggests life may come from, I’m not anxious to see her demonstration of what happens
after we die
. I might lose my appetite forever.”

The villagers laughed as Mahrree gave the idea a thoughtful look, followed by a mischievous grin.

Captain Shin shuddered dramatically before resuming a more serious stance. “When our ancestors asked those questions, they weren’t ready for the answers. Nor, even with all our progress and advancements, do I believe are we yet ready for the explanation of how we got here. Perhaps our ability to comprehend is still immature, or our faith is too weak to accept the truth. The answer may be a fantastic revelation that we would dismiss as bizarre as the idea that we emerged from Miss Peto’s blob.”

He glanced at her trembling concoction. “By the way, my brother would be much more handsome.”

Mahrree smiled.